Brrrrr! Oddball July weather may bring record low temps

Forget the t-shirts and shorts. Some of the coolest weather of the summer is expected in Iowa today with the possibility for record low temperatures tonight. Rod Donovan, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, says it’s feeling a lot more like March or April, not mid-July.

He says some Iowa cities may see new record "low-max" readings today, meaning their lowest-ever high temperatures for this date. Donovan says those record highs may only be in the mid-60s. He says a big cloud deck will be coming down from Minnesota and Wisconsin that’ll keep Iowa quite cool and spring-like, especially for mid-summer.

As thousands of bicycle riders start building their tent city in Council Bluffs with RAGBRAI starting this weekend, Donovan says it’ll be a chilly night for sleeping outdoors. "Definitely looking at another chance of some record low temperatures tonight or near-record low temperatures," he says. "We could see temperatures in the upper 40s to lower 50s overnight tonight."

This is, after all, July in Iowa and Donovan says warmer weather will get here, eventually. He says warmer temperatures are expected Sunday with highs in the low to mid-70s, with still-warmer temps on Monday, perhaps into the upper 70s and lower 80s.